In order to avoid a potential lawsuit from the USGA for infringing on their intellectual property, FairwayFiles has had to make some adjustments to our web site.

The USGA stipulates that only officially licensed golf clubs can use their Handicap System ®. to issue Handicap Indexes ™.

FairwayFiles will be investigating options to allow groups to register as officially licensed golf clubs with the USGA in order to allow us to issue official Handicap Indexes ™. But In the meantime, we will no longer be issuing "Handicap Indexes ™". Instead we will issue FairwayFiles Indexes which are based on a different formula than the USGA to avoid any infringement on their intellectual property. The FairwayFiles index will still allow you to compete evenly with your friends and track improvement in your game. It just won't be an exact match to the handicap index issued by the USGA.

I apologize for having to make this change, but I cannot afford to get into a legal battle with the USGA. I have been providing this webite for over 13 years as a free service, and I plan to keep it free in the future, So there isn't a lot of capital to fight the USGA on this. If anyone out there is an IP lawyer who might be able to provide some pro bono advice I'd love to hear from you at golfadmin@fairwayfiles.com